What Happens If I Forgot To Rinse The Drain Cleaner?

Drain cleaner is a common household item that helps tackle one of the most frustrating chores. It is often used to help unclog difficult, slow-moving drains or to remove stubborn grease buildup in drains. But what happens if you don’t rinse it after using it?

Forgetting to rinse the drain cleaner can end up corroding or damaging your pipes regardless if they may be metal or plastic. As such, it is always best to make sure that you only allow drain cleaners to sit for a few minutes before rinsing them to prevent them from causing damages to your pipes.

What if you forgot to rinse drain cleaner?

It isn’t uncommon for drains to be clogged by all sorts of things because we often try to push anything down our drain pipes when we are cleaning up or when we are doing our dishes. That’s why anything can be in your pipes. This includes food waste, plastic, oil or grease, or even insects that have made their way into the pipes to feed on the decaying matter in them.

Because of how it is very common for common households in the world to have all sorts of different things in their pipes, clogs are some of the most common problems that such households face on a regular basis.

Then again, drain cleaners are some of the best and quickest solutions that will make this problem go away in a heartbeat. That’s why every household should have a handy drain cleaner to keep the drains free and to make sure that you keep plumbing expenses down by keeping your drains as clog-free as possible.

But, with drain cleaners, not many people know that you should actually rinse or flush them down the pipes when you use them.

As useful as drain cleaners may be, you should never forget to make sure that you rinse them out of your pipes to make sure that your drains are safe and in top shape.

That’s because drain cleaners can actually end up damaging the drains instead of helping them when you use these cleaners in the wrong way.

So, the first thing that you need to remember when you are using drain cleaners to clear out your pipes is to make sure that you do not forget to rinse the drain cleaner regardless of what kind of pipes you have.

Drain cleaners usually come with different kinds of caustic chemicals that can easily dissolve any kind of obstructions that are causing the drains to get clogged. These chemicals are so strong that they can melt or dissolve anything that is in your drain regardless of whatever it may be.

From small food particles to built-up grease and even plastic, drain cleaners can melt those away in a few minutes so that your pipes get cleared up for water to pass through without any obstructions blocking the way.

So, if you look at the way these chemicals work, it is easy to think that, when you don’t rinse the drain cleaner out after it has done its job, the chemicals that it has will eventually start dissolving the pipes themselves regardless of whether you have plastic or metal pipes.

While plastic pipes are more susceptible to damage, metal pipes can also end up getting damaged as well.

In short, if drain cleaners can dissolve almost anything in your pipes, leaving them in the pipes without rinsing or flushing out the drain cleaners will eventually eat the pipes themselves and cause them to dissolve.

Most plumbers would not even recommend that you do not use drain cleaners in toilets because of how your plumbing can easily get damaged by the chemicals. You may be able to use it occasionally but using it on a weekly basis can end up causing the drain cleaner to damage your drains in the long run.

So, in that case, when you are using drain cleaners, make sure that you flush them out and that you never forget to rinse them out of your pipes because of how allowing them to sit in the pipes long enough after they have done their job will force them to dissolve all of the other things that are in the pipes, and that includes the pipes themselves.

Is it bad to leave drain cleaner overnight?

Normally, when it comes to drain cleaners, you shouldn’t wait too long before you rinse or flush them out of your pipes after they have done their job.

That’s because of how, as mentioned, drain cleaners can and will damage your pipes in the long run when they are left there sitting for a very long time without getting flushed out.

After all, the drain cleaner will eat and dissolve anything including your pipes if there is no longer anything that is clogging the drain.

So, while that may be true, there are still some people who ask if it’s alright to use drain cleaners and leave them overnight.

Based on the logic that we shouldn’t be leaving drain cleaners out too long without rinsing them, the obvious answer is that you should be leaving drain cleaners overnight.

In most cases, that should be the smartest move you can make when it comes to drain cleaners if you don’t want them to damage your pipes.

However, there are still some cases when you can actually leave drain cleaners overnight without damaging your pipes or without worrying about the long-term damages they can inflict on your drains. The most common reason why you may want to leave drain cleaners overnight is when the drains are too clogged.

In the most extreme cases where your pipes are too blocked to the point that not even a drop of water can get through the pipes, that is when it might be a good idea to leave the drain cleaner overnight so that you can be sure that it will be able to do its job and dissolve anything that is blocking or clogging the pipes.

So, you can only leave drain cleaners overnight if your drain is actually too clogged to the point that a few minutes and a few hours won’t be enough to free the pipes up. But in normal cases, it is best to rinse the drain cleaner out as soon as it has already done its job.

How long do you have to flush drain cleaner?

So, now that you know that you shouldn’t leave drain cleaners out for a long time and you need to make sure that you rinse them out of the pipes, how long do you actually have to wait before it is okay for you to flush the drain cleaner out?

In normal clogs that aren’t too extreme, it is best to wait for at least 15 minutes before you flush the drain cleaner out of your pipes.

You may be able to wait for a few minutes or even up to a few hours longer if the clog is more serious than normal. However, it might not be a good idea to leave the drain cleaner for more than 2 hours except in the most extreme situations.

Meanwhile, for extremely clogged pipes that won’t even allow a few drops of water to get through, it should be a good idea to leave the drain cleaner in the drain for about 6 to 8 hours.

It is ideal to leave the drain cleaner in the pipes before you go to work or before you go to bed so that you can immediately flush it out of your pipes the moment you get home or when you wake up.

However, again, in normal cases, it would be best to limit it to about 15 minutes if you don’t want the drain cleaner to damage your pipes.

Can drain cleaner make the clog worse?

While drain cleaners are indeed effective at de-clogging your drains, there are some cases where they can actually make the clogs worse. Such cases might not be common but they do indeed happen.

The reason why drain cleaners can make clogs worse is that the chemicals in the drain cleaner can actually make the clogs more solid and congested such as when the clog is caused by grease that solidifies when it makes contact with the drain cleaner.

So, when that happens, what you can do is to use a plunger or a snake to get rid of the clog and to allow water to not only rinse the drain cleaner but also flush out the solidified structure that may have built up due to the drain cleaner.

Conclusion

In conclusion, drain cleaners may be effective to use when you want to keep your expenses low as you no longer need to hire a plumber.

However, the problem with drain cleaners is that they are not absolute and that they can end up harming or damaging your pipes or even make the clog worse if you are not careful.

As such, it is best to limit the use of drain cleaners and to use them maybe about 3 to 4 times a year at the most. You can also use wire hangers, snakes, or plungers as alternatives for clogs that aren’t too serious.